Make a Simple Ketubah with Pretty Paper
Filed under: Easy, Project
Last time, we personalized a ketubah from the kit with contemporary lettering. Today, I’m going to show you the simplest way to take that sheet of paper and make it into a gorgeous piece to hang in your home.
All we’re going to do is find a nice sheet of decorative paper and adhere the personalized text we made last time to it with photo corners. That’s it. Really.
Materials
Personalized ketubah text
Paper Source decorative paper (or any sheet of pretty paper from anywhere)
Xacto knife
Steel ruler (good to cut against, but any straight edge will work)
Self-healing mat (to cut on – you can also use cardboard)
Photo corners
Thin black frame or thick black frame or silver frame
Finding the Right Paper
Pretty paper makes everything better. And easy. Find a nice pattern that you like and your work is half done. You can probably find some at a local art or craft store if you want to see it in person before you buy it. There’s pretty paper everywhere!
If you’re far away from art stores, you can also buy online. My favorite place to find beautiful paper is Paper Source.
One word of caution, though: not all of their papers are acid-free. I chatted with someone in the Portland shop who said that the PS Designs are acid-free, but that the other collections are spotty. You might want to look only at stuff they have labeled explicitly as acid-free to be sure you’re using something that will last a lifetime.
That having been said, there may be some papers that they don’t classify outright as acid-free that will stand the test of time just fine. Some of my favorite papers are the Lokta papers from Nepal and they are handmade and sustainable, yet they don’t guarantee that they’re acid-free.
If you’re willing to take a gamble, you can try testing a paper you like for acid by using an acid-testing pen on a small piece of it to see how it holds up.
The worst-case scenario is that you’ll need to rework your ketubah in the future if there’s an aging issue with the paper. It’s an individual choice whether or not to risk it.
For the purposes of this demonstration, I paid no mind to which papers were guaranteed to be acid-free. I was just looking for patterns that were eye-catching to show you what you can do.
Thinking about Size
Once you’ve found a paper you like, you should think about where you’re going to hang your ketubah and what size would be best there. Since you’re making your own piece, you can customize it for the perfect spot in your home.
Ready-made frames like the ones I recommended above in the materials list keep costs down and are available in some nice sizes. My favorite size is 16″ x 20″ because it’s big enough to have a presence without being overwhelming. There are other common sizes that are smaller, like 11″ x 14″. You might want to find the frame first so that you can measure and cut your paper to fit exactly.
Besides the frames I recommended above, Ikea has some inexpensive frames you might consider. Just be aware that their matte and glass is not necessarily intended for longevity, so you might want to swap those out – a good local framer can help you with that.
Cutting your Paper Down to Size
Once you’ve measured the dimensions you’d like for your finished piece, you can cut your decorative paper down with a steel ruler and xacto knife. I like to use a self-healing mat for cutting, but you can do it on any surface that you’re willing to sacrifice to knife marks. Make pencil marks on the back of the paper and cut carefully!
Placing Your Ketubah Text
Once you have your paper cut down, you can take your ketubah text and just move it around on the decorative paper until you find a position you like.
If you want your piece to be vertically oriented, you can try the text sheet in the middle, for a clean, symmetrical look. Keep in mind that you want the sheet to have a bit more space below than above to look truly centered. If you just measure exactly the same length above and below, it will look optically low on the page. The sides can be measured exactly, but the top and bottom should be eyed. Trust your instincts over a ruler with vertical centering.
For a more modern look, you might try a horizontal orientation, positioning the page off to the side. That asymmetrical placement will make the page look a bit unexpected and contemporary. You can either position it to the side and keep it visually centered from top to bottom, or go all the way and position it higher or lower than its visual center vertically.
Just have fun moving the sheet around on the decorative background and see what looks appealing to you.
Once you’ve found an orientation and position that you like, it’s time to put it in place. Peel off your first photo corner. Then, while holding the text sheet down with one hand, carefully slip the photo corner over one corner and press it down onto the decorative paper.
The second photo corner should be placed on the diagonal corner, to secure the overall position of the sheet. Keep working carefully, corner by corner. These guys are really sticky, so be sure you have things where you want them before you press a photo corner down.
With all your corners in place, you’re done! Now you can just slip your piece into the frame you already chose, and you’re set to go.
